The Story of the Leonard Cohen Tribute Concert on the I’m Your Man DVD

Following is a bit about this concert, which had been performed annually for a while before it was taped for the DVD, and some info on the musicians which contribute so much to the beautiful music and lyrics on this DVD. The info comes from Sylvie Simmons's biography of Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man.

From what I understand from Sylvie Simmons’s book, he handpicked the musicians for the tribute concert himself, and he also told them exactly what song(s) to play.

The show was staged in New York / Prospect Park in Brooklyn (2003), Brighton (2004), Sydney (2005), and Dublin (2006). It was a show to celebrate both Cohen’s music and these musicians’. “I put a show together,” says Willner, quoted by Simmons, “like a script, a play, so it’s more about the cast with this material than a ‘tribute show.’” He chose some of Cohen’s better-known songs, and some of his lesser-known ones.

After the first two performances, Hal Willner (we owe a lot to him) convinced Lian Lunson, a filmmaker he met at a Los Angeles party (who had done a documentary on Willie Nelson), to turn one of these concerts into a film. Lunson’s terms were that she had to have Leonard Cohen interviewed on camera for the film. He not only allowed that but even did a secret performance in a nightclub in New York with US – they filmed that as well for the end of the DVD.

The concert taking up the rest of the DVD is the 2005 one, performed at the Opera House in Sydney. Antony had joined the rest of the cast that year, and, as you can hear on the DVD as well as in the video clip below, he was pretty amazing.

The concert is one beautiful performance after another. Interspersed are short moments with Leonard Cohen.

The following are excerpts from the "I'm Your Man" DVD.